Olive oil and cancer.....part 2!?!
Olive oil and cancer.....part 2!?
Further to a recent post I went and checked up some facts.
Pure extra virgin olive oil is no more carcinogenic than any other oil, the key is not to overheat it. Here in Italy people use light sunflower or corn oils to fry, keeping the extra virgin for drizzles. The problem is with things like pizza and focaccia that contain low grade oils and are baked at high temperatures. Another problem is with the dubious quality of oil. What passes off as virgin olive oil in Britain is very often low grade oil mixed with some vrigin oil.
Real extra virgin fresh from the press is opaque and greenish-yellow with a very strong and bitter taste- use sparingly (this is how my girlfriend's dad makes it in his olive groves in Puglia!!!). He told me that most commercial olive oil is lampante (lit. lamp oil) unfit for anything!!!! Spanish olive oil was banned a couple of years ago for containing benzinate hydrocarbons. Anyway, most Italians will tell you not to fry with oil because of these risks...!
3 weeks ago
World
Saudi Arabia Bans Import of Spanish Olive Oil
Saudi Arabia on Saturday banned the import of Spanish olive oil over fears that it might contain cancerous chemicals.
An official of the Saudi Ministry of Trade said that orders were given to bar any Spanish olive oil cargoes from entering the kingdom, the official Saudi Press Agency, monitored here, reported.
The ministry also ordered Spanish olive oil be withdrawn from the shops, the official said.
The Spanish government has reportedly banned the sale of a brand of olive oil on food security grounds after finding high levels of aromatic hydrocarbon in the oil.
This also happened in the Far East
3 weeks ago
I have been to many pizzerie in the south of Italy and watched them smear oil on the dough before adding the sugo (sauce)!!!
Anyway, this message is more for people who DO NOT come from the traditional olive consuming countries and do NOT know....
Answers:
3 weeks ago
World
Saudi Arabia Bans Import of Spanish Olive Oil
Saudi Arabia on Saturday banned the import of Spanish olive oil over fears that it might contain cancerous chemicals.
An official of the Saudi Ministry of Trade said that orders were given to bar any Spanish olive oil cargoes from entering the kingdom, the official Saudi Press Agency, monitored here, reported.
The ministry also ordered Spanish olive oil be withdrawn from the shops, the official said.
The Spanish government has reportedly banned the sale of a brand of olive oil on food security grounds after finding high levels of aromatic hydrocarbon in the oil.
This also happened in the Far East
3 weeks ago
I have been to many pizzerie in the south of Italy and watched them smear oil on the dough before adding the sugo (sauce)!!!
Anyway, this message is more for people who DO NOT come from the traditional olive consuming countries and do NOT know....
Hi,
obviously you are italian, so I can forgive your attack (?) on Spanish Olive Oils.
The truth is that Spanish Olive oil has NEVER been 'banned' except by local commercial competitors (Italy for a while, and Greece) Spanish olive oil, extra virgin or not sells far more than Italy and Greece put together. The production of olive oil here is pretty universal and it is grown and produced all over Spain, even in the north, where it is cooler.
The best Extra Virgin Oil, campares very favourably with any oil from anywhere in the world and, correspondingly, as the quality comes down to the more commercial levels of 'ordinary' olive oils the quality still compares favourably with that from Italy and Greece.
Olive Oil, as you are obviously quite aware, 'burns' at a fairly low temerature and, as you rightly say, if you are frying at high temperature you would be well advised to use other vegetable oils which have a higher melting point (i.e. burn point)
The various colours of olive oil, including virgin oils straight from the press, vary between yellow and green and, as you state, is usually quite opaque. There are methods of filtering which can give a more pleasing appearance (as far as the consumer goes) without heating or treating the oil in any other way, so it IS possible to have extra virgin oil which is quite clear.
I think your girlfriend's dad is quite typical of all oil producers, when looking at the mass produced quantities when compared to his own, more labour intensive and 'personal' production. I live 500M from an olive mill, and they, just like you girlfriend's dad, claim that most commercial oils are 'rubbish'.
I buy mine direct from the mill and always have the very first press only. It comes out as a greenish, milky liquid, which is absolutely wonderful for drizzling...A habit here, I don't know about Italy, is to drizzle it onto fresh crusty bread...nothing else! Wonderful!
Incidentally, the benzinate hydrocarbon 'debate' was a non-starter, ALL olive oils when 'burned' produce these hydrocarbons and the resultant 'banning' by lobbyists in Italy was proved groundless when it was realised that the Italian oils did exactly the same..Oops!
There was never, and never would be, any 'additions' to Spanish oils, just like there would never be any 'additions' to Italian (or Greek) oils.
Cheers,
BobSpain
Very interesting information! Thanks. We use a LOT of olive oil in place of other oils especially on focaccia meals we throw together now and again.
Thank you we will stop using olive oil for frying~~
Cancer is caused by genetics - carcinogens occur all the time.
Finally a more objective view on the matter (at least on the first part; I disagree about spanish oil); I just want to add than pizza is not baked with olive oil; on a true Italian pizza there's NO oil (of any kind) in the dough and oil *on* the pizza itself must be put *after* cooking it, just before serving. That's the way pizza are done in Italy.
Anyway when baking temperature is lower than when frying: generally (for pizza, foccia, bread) no more than 220/240 centigrads, compared to 280 for frying oil.